36 Kr Sail learned that SIJO, a brand of American sleep technology D2C, has recently announced the completion of tens of millions of dollars in pre A and pre A+rounds of financing for Jingwei Venture Capital and Red Dot Venture Capital. This round of financing funds will mainly be used for product research and development, brand promotion, and team expansion.
SIJO was founded in 2019 by Anni Stromfeld and Jacob Xi. The founding team members are all from D2C brands such as Foreo, Nuface, Nutrafol, AdoreMe, and global brands such as Uniqlo. They have several years of experience in brand operation, marketing, and supply chain management.
According to founder Jacob, the establishment of SIJO originated from the founder team's optimism about the development potential of the US sleep economy. According to Statista's 2019 statistics, bedding, as one of the top three furniture and home furnishings in the United States, has a sleep health industry size of $79 billion and is expected to grow to $95 billion by 2024.
Starting from the bedding track, SIJO's sales have grown by nearly 500% year-on-year, with natural traffic accounting for over 50%. As a new generation sleep technology brand, SIJO is committed to utilizing innovative textile technology and environmentally friendly fabrics to solve different sleep needs and problems. In terms of product design, SIJO strives to provide consumers with better texture, appearance, and product experience.
According to the company, SIJO's main customer base is the middle class aged 25-45 in the United States who have improved sleep needs, with women accounting for nearly 60% of the total. From 2020 to 2021, SIJO's flagship eucalyptus fiber bedding and home clothing achieved annual sales growth of 10 times and 20 times, respectively.
The application of textile fabric technology is one of SIJO's main competitiveness. The company stated that the founding team has resources in textile fabric research and development institutions in multiple countries in Europe and America, and has obtained exclusive rights to use several of the latest research and development achievements. In terms of material usage, SIJO mainly uses innovative fabrics that are more environmentally friendly, breathable, and skin friendly.
Combining the team's data mining and analysis capabilities, SIJO can accurately capture and analyze user consumption habits, shopping preferences, and lifestyles, conduct targeted in-depth research and development, and create products that better meet user needs.
The brand strategy of omnichannel operation has built a broader and comprehensive brand influence network for SIJO, and the brand has been repeatedly reported and promoted by local media and magazines in the United States such as CNN, Good Morning America, Vogue, Good Housekeeping, Apartment Therapy, etc. It is worth mentioning that Kardashian sisters took the initiative to contact SIJO and adopted SIJO series products in their new bedroom.
In terms of supply chain, thanks to the previous work experience of the founder team, SIJO has integrated resources from multiple high-quality domestic suppliers, relying on modern technology and industrial advantages of the domestic supply chain to improve production efficiency. In terms of logistics and warehousing, SIJO adopts the direct delivery model from the US warehouse, which has higher logistics efficiency and provides customers with a better shopping experience.
When it comes to future planning, founder Jacob stated that SIJO will not only continue to conduct fabric research and development in the bedding and home clothing categories, but also gradually expand into other home scene products. At the same time, there is a common phenomenon of sleep quality issues in the Asian market, and we also hope to expand into domestic and Japanese markets in the future.
Xiao Min, a partner of Jingwei Venture Capital, stated: We have long been optimistic about the path of DTC brand globalization, and a team that combines overseas omnichannel operation capabilities and domestic supply chain advantages has strong scarcity. Good DTC products and brand culture are social currencies with liquidity, and based on natural traffic fission, they bring high brand potential. We are optimistic about the brand culture of SIJO's functional sleep, catering to the changes in consumer psychology of European and American users from appearance economy to functional economy The SIJO team has excellent Chinese and American genes and can fully leverage the operational capabilities of overseas brands. By understanding the core demands of local users and defining products, the brand culture is quickly accepted by international mainstream media and top celebrities, becoming a DTC international brand with high user awareness and high repeat purchases
LET'S CHUHAI CLUB Sail to Southeast Asia Salon - Beijing Station
On December 16th, the fourth stop of the "LET'S CHUHAI CLUB Southeast Asia Salon" jointly organized by the Singapore Economic Development Authority and 36 Krypton Sail Away will arrive in Beijing. This event will revolve around popular topics such as the strategy of enterprise service companies in the Southeast Asian market and how multinational enterprises can break through cultural barriers. We will jointly explore the business opportunities and challenges of enterprises going overseas to Southeast Asia, and create the next generation of global enterprises.
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Wen | Chang Weiqian
Editor | Zhao Xiaochun
Figure | Provided by the enterprise
